Contents

Summary

Buster believes it's his destiny to go to Pizza Paula's Pizzaland and win the pizza-eating contest for free pizza for life. While he is there, he goes back to the hotel room to sleep early for the pizza contest, except he can't fall asleep.

Plot

Opening

At a lecture, Arthur introduces Buster about a special subject he knows all about. Buster then starts his lecture about sleep. He begins to show clips of him asleep and talks of how important and helpful it can be. He says that it replenishes our strength so that we are physically fit: a clip of him is shown where he leaps to block a shot into the goal while he is sleeping. He says that sleep rests our brains so that we are mentally fit: Buster is shown snoring in class while Mr. Ratburn asks who knows the sound a wild boar makes. And Buster says sleep also saves energy for the important things in life. He brushes his teeth, then goes to bed. As Buster ends his lecture, it appears he has also fallen asleep. Arthur returns as he teases the second part of Buster's sleeping lecture series: eating after sleeping.

Episode

Arthur, Muffy, Francine, and Brain are watching a space TV show about an astronaut who claims landing on the moon was his destiny. Arthur asks them if they wondered what their destinies are: Francine wants to be an Olympic gold medalist in hockey, the Brain wants to discover the origin of the universe, and Muffy wants to be the world's most glamorous fashion designer and end world hunger. Seeing Buster asleep on the couch, they all agree Buster's destiny will probably be as a mattress tester. It's then they see a commercial for a grand opening of a pizza theme park called Pizza Land, which happens to wake Buster up. The woman who created the theme park then announces their first pizza eating contest, where the prize is a lifetime pass to all her pizza restaurants.

Buster tells his mother about Pizza Land and that he would be great at the contest, but she tells him that they do not have the money for a hotel. Buster tries to do as many jobs around the town, such as mowing Mr. Sipple's lawn, babysitting the Tibble twins, washing cars at Crosswire Motors, and selling his own lemonade. He sleeps on every single job, and manages to make only a few cents. Buster's mother commends him for trying hard, but says again that a hotel costs a lot. Buster really believes it's to his destiny to go to Pizza Land. His mother then gets a call from Pizza Land to cover the grand opening for the newspaper, including a free Pizza Land Hotel suite. Buster then invites his friends to come with them to Pizza Land.

At Pizza Land, Buster is especially in awe of the park, and even gets a little taste of the sidewalk. Buster goes to sign up for the pizza eating contest, showing his skill to other participants eating a free pizza with one bite. Later that night, Buster goes to bed early so that he will be prepared for tomorrow's contest. Buster's mother and his friends go to see a laser show, and some hours later upon returning they see Buster awake and pacing around the room. He cannot stop thinking about pizza because of the contest and the room's pizza decor, but Arthur says it could be because Buster tried to go to bed so early. Buster tries to go to sleep again with his mother's sleeping mask and earplugs, only to dream about pizza and wake up while everybody else is fast asleep.

Meanwhile, Arthur is having a dream where D.W. brings him breakfast in bed, cleans his room, and reads off a long list of other things to do for him. Arthur gets confused when D.W. is counting down. It turns out to be Buster counting down to the contest, which wakes Arthur and everybody else up except Buster's mother. He quickly goes to sleep after Brain shows him some math equations, but it only lasts for a few seconds. Francine then gets him to exercise, only to make him hungry. Muffy gives him her bed saying that a proper one is the only way to get a good night sleep. Muffy can't fall asleep, and demands for her bed when she sees Buster eating chips. Binky suggests that Buster punches his pillow so that he thinks about his hand hurting instead of thinking about not falling asleep. Francine then gets Arthur to think of a solution: he suggests counting sheep, only for everybody to find it lame and cliché. Buster suddenly falls asleep to everybody's delight, and everybody else also goes back to sleep. Arthur's dream resumes, where D.W. is destroying all of her Crazy Bus stuff and ready to destroy all her Mary Moo Cow stuff as well. Buster wakes him up again, saying that counting sheep subsequently made him think about pizza again. Arthur gets angry, refuses to help and goes back to sleep. Buster decides to call room service for a pizza; the person on the other end suggest coming down to the kitchen for food.

In the hotel kitchen, the head chef mistakes Buster for a chef. Buster tells him that he could not sleep and just wanted a snack, only to be surprised to see some of the other participants cooking pizza. They recount stories of failed eating contests and not getting any sleep, but continue to do these contests because they are their destiny. Buster tells them that there will always be another contest if they are unable to do this one. They ask if Buster can help them, only for him to finally get his sleep.

On the day of the contest, everybody except Buster is practically passed out. Eager to win over the other contestants, but to his dismay, an announcement is made saying the contest was postponed until tomorrow since the owner of Pizza Land was too excited to sleep. That evening, Buster once again is having trouble falling asleep and he tries to talk to the others, and the episode finishes as he doesn't get any response from his friends.

Trivia

Neil Strongarm, the astronaut mentioned on TV at the beginning of the episode, is a spoof of astronaut Neil Armstrong.

When Buster dreams about pizza with a sleeping mask on, he sees pizzas being made as The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II plays in the background.

The And Now a Word From Us Kids segment in this episode talked about ways to sleep. However in some reruns and on DVD, the And Now A Word From Us Kids segment from The World Record replaces this due to pizza involved.[citation needed]

Goofs

Alex was seen with Buster and friends but disappeared when they arrived.

When Buster wakes Arthur up while counting down, Ms. Baxter can be seen for a second with gray hair while sleeping in the hotel room.